Introspective Nothings
by lying mongoose
Summary: Seven drabbles done for a challenge, set to the prompt words fire, balloon, end, freefall, immovable, mannequin, and until. All Hiei/Kuwabara.


These are some drabbles I did for the DrabbleDay challenge on LiveJournal (pretty cool thing, if anyone feels like checking it out). They're all Hiei/Kuwabara, my first and forever beloved OTP.

Disclaimer - I do not even remotely own anything to do with Yu Yu Hakusho. I wouldn't even know where to start to try if I wanted to.

…

1. Fire

"Oh, come on. I think it's _pretty_." Kuwabara's voice rang out clearly in the spacious, empty room, and even though there was little inflection in his tone, Hiei could easily sense the human's glee at finding something to tease him with.

How he ended up in this spacious, empty room alone with his only human teammate didn't really matter. All that mattered was that Kuwabara seemed keen on the idea of _not shutting up_, and he was starting to actually get truly irritated, despite his normally aloof treatment of said teenager.

"The Kokuryuuha," the small demon bit out, "is _dangerous_." He turned his head away, eyes slitting as he finished his contention. "Not _pretty_."

… When Kuwabara only laughed giddily, Hiei suddenly realized that all his glares and threats no longer had any affect _whatsoever _on his teammate.

2. Balloon

He wasn't a stalker. Just lounging on top of the Kuwabara household didn't make him a stalker. It only meant he had wanted to lounge somewhere and this particular roof had been the most comfortable.

How concrete and roof-paneling could be so comfortable, no one knew, but Hiei seemed to have found a most relaxing position sitting with his head tilted back to take in the night sky.

The endless black and shining dots of the stars were abruptly interrupted as a slowly rising object that looked incompatible with the rest of the scenery entered his vision from the left. As his eyes moved to focus on it, he heard the voices of the residents of the house below him sound out.

"Really, Kazuma, you always will be my baby bro'. Sixteen and you're still making wishes on lost balloons?"

"Ah, c'mon Shizuru. It's nice to make a wish on something every once in a while…"

A pause. Hiei heard footsteps - probably the elder Kuwabara moving closer to the window of the room to look out at the balloon before it was too far away to see.

"Well… I guess there's no reason not to. Alright, baby bro, I'll make a wish with you."

Not taking his eyes off of the foreign object in the sky, Hiei listened to the ensuing, momentary silence, until the voices spoke up again.

"Here's to hopin' our wishes come true, huh?"

"Yeah… and soon, too… I can't wait forever…"

Finally removing his eyes, Hiei looked straight ahead for a moment, before he stood to jump away. Maybe those wishes would come true, someday... Maybe when he could admit to himself why he found the Kuwabara household's roof so comfortable.

3. End

Hiei had only picked up on the fact the something was wrong by chance. It wasn't because he knew what Kuwabara's general schedule for each day was and so noticed when he dropped just about everything. It wasn't because he had grown accustomed to hearing laughs and seeing smiles and so noticed when they stopped. And it most certainly wasn't because he was shadowing the human around at all. For any length of time. Ever.

It was by chance. So, when he actually asked just _what _was wrong, he would say it was out of boredom.

Because it was.

"It's just… a huge test is coming up, and I'm freaking a little about it."

Kuwabara was looking at him oddly, like he had just done something completely atypical of himself, which, admittedly, he had, but he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about humans and their trivial worries and fears. He most certainly wasn't thinking about Kuwabara specifically, and definitely not about the tendril of relief he felt in his stomach. Because it wasn't there to think about.

… And he wasn't thinking about putting an end to any denial. Because any denial didn't exist to put an end to.

4. Freefall

The wind increased in its force, steadily pushing harder and harder at his back until he was struggling to keep his footing. _'I'm not really going to do this. I'm not _really_ going to do this…' _His heartbeat was too fast in his chest, and his thoughts were quickly making less and less sense. _'There's no way… I can't… I _can't_!'_

He stepped forward.

With his eyes closed, the fall seemed to take longer than it should have, though as he was in midair he couldn't think about that. He couldn't think about anything. There were no formulated thoughts, not even a scream of fear. Because he didn't feel the fear anymore, only the inimitable sensation of a freefall.

He reached the ground in about ten seconds.

Once he had finally stood up and gone through the motions of relief that the jump was over and he was indeed alive, he looked back up to see the haughtyimage of Hiei above him.

"There! I did it, shrimp! Now you can't say _anything_!"

5. Immovable

Hiei thinks Kuwabara is like a rock.

Rocks are something that are simple and unmoving and unchanging. Forever there, forever the same. And that's just what Kuwabara is like.

Kurama thinks Kuwabara is like water.

Water is something that is universal, and universally needed. Water is something that is ever-moving, seeping into whatever place is open to it and giving the chance of life to everything. Water is something that will wear away at any rock, and let nothing wear away at it.

Kurama also thinks that Hiei _wants _Kuwabara to be like a rock.

"You can't deny it forever, Hiei. He's changing, and you're…"

_Staying the same._

"I'm not denying anything, fox."

Ah, but Kurama is a _crafty_ fox, and Hiei is his friend. And as such, he knows just what buttons to push to get Hiei to see…

No amount of stubbornness or pride can save you when you're without water.

_Without life._

6. Mannequin

"Kuwabara-san, my friends and I need your help."

Kuwabara considered the girl blocking his path - looking nervous and uncomfortable. Her voice was quiet, hesitant, and he easily noticed how practiced her request sounded.

It really was strange, Keiko Yukimura asking for his help for anything was rare. Despite being the girlfriend of his best friend, Keiko and him had never really connected on any level other than as schoolmates.

Looking straight ahead to see beyond her, he saw her two friends just a little ways off - looking more worried as the seconds without a response from himself ticked on. Glancing back and forth between the girl in front of him and the girls in the background, he couldn't help but notice the barely-there shimmer of hope in their eyes, and the fear just creeping in - whatever they needed, it seemed he really was the only one they could get it from.

He couldn't say no.

…

"They made you do _what_?"

If the half-shocked, half-amused tone in Hiei's voice had been for any other reason, Kuwabara would have just marveled at the reprieve from his usual monotone and appreciated it while it lasted - but it wasn't for any other reason.

"Is it _really_ so shocking that they wanted me to model for them?"

"Yes."

'_No hesitation.' _Kuwabara groaned internally._ 'I'm beginning to wonder why I ever agreed to go out with him…'_

"They said they needed someone tall to fit the clothes, and I was the only one they knew who was, and- and- _give me back those pictures!_"

Hiei let out a short barking laugh as he easily jumped out of Kuwabara's reach, waving the photos teasingly once he landed.

"_Never."_

Kuwabara growled. He never should've let Hiei see those modeling pictures.

7. Until

He couldn't be serious.

Kuwabara, still with his back turned, snorted and spoke out, "Yes, Hiei, I am serious. You're not coming in until you apologize."

Hiei was suddenly reminded that the human before him _was _a physic, and therefore very sensitive to emotions, but that didn't matter. All he could think about was how… how _ridiculous_ Kuwabara was being. There was no way he… no way he…

"I am not going to apologize to your _cat_."

Kuwabara quickly turned around, a look of outrage that Hiei didn't know someone could feel over just an animal on his face.

"Then you are _not_ coming in."

…

… Alright, thank you ever so much for reading, people. If you've got time, feel free to tell me if you liked any.

I actually wrote a bit more on a few of these, but they had to be shortened to fit DrabbleDay requirements (again, cool thing to do if you have a little time on your hands everyday. Check it out here - http : / / community . livejournal . com / drabbleday / - and remove the spaces, of course).

Okay, I won't pimp any more websites. See ya.


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